Duchy of Modena and Reggio

The Duchy of Modena and Reggio was a small northwestern Italian state that existed from 1452 to 1796 and from 1814 to 1859. The duchy, centered around the city of Modena, was created by Emperor Frederick III of Germany in 1452 and granted to the House of Este, which would also come to rule the Duchy of Ferrara. During the Italian Wars, Modena and Reggio fought on the side of the Papal States against the Republic of Venice, and the Este family continued to rule the duchy even after the extinction of the main line of the family in 1597. During the War of the Mantuan Succession, Modena and Reggio sided with Habsburg Spain, leading to its acquisition of Correggio. In 1711, the Duchy of Mirandola was absorbed by Modena and Reggio as well. In 1796, during the French Revolutionary Wars, the French First Republic's army, commanded by Napoleon Bonaparte, invaded Modena and Reggio and created the Cispadane Republic out of its territory. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, Modena and Reggio was recreated under the Congress of Vienna, and the House of Austria-Este ruled it. In December 1859, Modena and Reggio decided to join Italy alongside Parma and Tuscany.